H2Winx
by roseannacharlotte
Summary: When Layla Andros starts at Alfea she's hiding a secret. She's a fairy. What happens when she and her six dorm mates end up inside the volcano during a school field trip to Mako Island? They gain another secret to hide. Now when they get wet, they transform into mermaids.
1. Arrival at Alfea

H2Winx

"Layla. Hurry up. Your dad's waiting in the car already," Niobe Andros called up the stairs. Her daughter, Layla, sighed. She wasn't looking forward to starting boarding school at all.

Layla didn't have a choice in the matter however as General Andros was about to be posted abroad for two years and his wife was to go with him. They refused to take Layla with them as well and had instead enrolled her at the Alfea College Academy where Layla's cousin Tressa was a student.

Alfea was located a two hour drive from the Andros' home, near the coast. The Andros family went straight to the Headmistresses office once they arrived at the school. Headmistress Faragonda Light was a kindly older woman who quickly reassured Layla's mother's anxieties and sent General and Mrs Andros home happily.

"Well Miss Andros, shall we go find your dorm?" suggested the headmistress. Without waiting for Layla to reply, Headmistress Light stood, walked around her desk and led the way out of her office. Layla followed the older woman along several corridors until they reached the girls dormitories. Each door had a list of its occupants' names on it.

"Here we are. Layla Andros," the headmistress declared. "I'll leave you to it now." Faragonda Light walked away leaving Layla staring at the list of names on the door in front of her.

Bloom Domino.

Flora Lynphea.

Layla Andros.

Musa Melody.

Roxy Tir-Nan-Og.

Stella Solaria.

Tecna Zenith.

The list shocked Layla. She knew her roommates names. Bloom Domino, Roxy Tir-Nan-Og and Stella Solaria were well known IT girls who were always being photographed at parties, charity events and galas. Musa Melody was a popstar often seen at the same events. Tecna Zenith was the daughter of two famous inventors and it was said that she was just as brilliant as her parents. Flora Lynphea was a model who'd recently done a photoshoot for a massive perfume company. Feeling nervous, Layla pushed open the door to her new room. Six girls looked up to see who was coming in.

"Hi you must be our new roommate. I'm Bloom." The red head stood up and came over to introduce herself.

"I know who you are," admitted Layla.

"Of course she knows who we are," Stella spoke up. "Everyone knows who we are."

"Not everyone reads those stupid gossips rags you're always in Stella," retorted Tecna.

"They're not stupid," Stella muttered in a tone that suggested this was an old argument. Bloom ignored the squabble and smiled at Layla as she asked her name.

"Layla Andros."

"Andros? As in General Andros?"

"Yes," responded Layla slightly confused that Bloom Domino knew of her dad. "He's my dad."

"That explains why you look familiar, maybe we met a party or something when we were younger," mused Bloom.

A phone chimed and Bloom turned towards it but Stella got there first.

"It's Sky. He says the guys will be here in ten."

"Sorry, not to sound really stupid, but isn't this an all-girls school?" questioned Layla.

"It is. The boys go to Red Fountain Academy on the other side of town. Sky's my boyfriend and Stella's dating his best mate Brandon. Helia and Flora are together as are Timmy and Tecna. Then there's Musa and Riven. Those two are an on again off again type situation." Layla was rather surprised that Bloom would give such a detailed explanation of the group's relationships to a stranger. But before she could question it a knock sounded on the door. Stella jumped up so fast Layla fancied she saw steam. Musa laughed.

"Really Stella? It's been what? Thirty minutes since you last saw Brandon? Can you really not go any longer than that without him?"

Stella pouted as she opened the door, letting six young guys into the room. Layla had a bit of a shock when she saw the last guy to enter. Nabu Ophir had been her next door neighbour when she was a kid but his family had moved away and she hadn't seen him in years. Now he was stood in her dorm common area.

"Layla?" Nabu was looking at her with as much surprise on his face as she was feeling.

"Hi Nabu," she replied softly.

"You two know each other?" asked Bloom.

"We lived next door to each other as kids," Nabu explained. He grabbed Layla's hand and pulled her down onto the sofa.

"So Layla, what's been happening in your life since I moved away?" Nabu asked. Layla smiled and the two sat catching up until Helia suddenly checked his watch.

"We need to leave boys. We won't make it back to Red Fountain before dinner and you know Codatorta."

"Can't you get your uncle to let us off?" Riven asked Helia.

"Uncle Saladin is very careful not to play favourites with me, you know that. Sometimes I think he's stricter with me than with anyone else in the school."

"Helia's uncle is the headmaster of Red Fountain," Nabu explained to Layla, who was looking rather confused by the conversation. The boys said goodbye to the girls and snuck back out of the school. They had only just left when a bell rang.

"Dinner," declared Roxy.

"The boys are really going to be late," fretted Tecna as she stood up and the group made their way to the dining hall.

Layla was surprised by how welcoming she found her new dorm mates and how easily she slotted in with the group. Soon she was chatting away with them like they were old friends. Layla was worried though. She didn't want to get too close to these girls. The closer she was to them, the more likely it was that they would discover her secret.

Layla was a fairy. She didn't know how it was possible but she had discovered when she was little that she could transform into a fairy and that her powers were water based. Layla had decided never to tell anyone in case they thought she was crazy or wanted to lock her up or experiment on her.

"You joined the school on a good day Layla," commented Musa as the group headed back to their dormitory after dinner. "Tomorrow we have a field trip to Mako Island."

"Mako Island?" questioned Layla.

"It's a small island you can see from town. There's a dormant volcano on it," Tecna informed her. They had reached their dorm now and the girls showed Layla which was her room.

"Goodnight girls. Remember we have to be up early tomorrow for the trip," Bloom said as she went into her room.

Layla didn't expect to go to sleep quickly in the unfamiliar bed but she was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. That night Layla dreamt of swimming through the ocean faster than any human, or fairy, possibly could.


	2. Trip to Mako Island

Layla had forgotten to set her alarm before falling asleep on her first night at Alfea, so her dorm mates were the ones to wake her up. Specifically it was Stella Solaria who woke the new girl by jumping up and down on her bed, and mimicking the sound of an alarm clock. Layla was not amused. She was always grouchy in the morning until she had had some coffee.

It seemed Tecna had anticipated Layla's need for a hot beverage as the kettle in the common area's tiny kitchenette was just coming to a boil when Layla and Stella left Layla's room. Tecna looked at Layla and asked if she wanted tea or coffee.

"Coffee please. Black."

Tecna made the drink and handed Layla the mug. Layla blew on the drink to cool it slightly then drank the whole lot in one go. Tecna looked impressed.

Bloom entered the common room, pulling a brush through her fiery locks.

"You two had better go get dressed. Breakfast is in ten minutes."

Tecna and Layla looked at each other before heading to the two bathrooms they had in the dormitory. Ten minutes later, the seven girls made their way down to breakfast together.

"We're leaving straight after breakfast right?" confirmed Flora.

"Yes, Professor Palladium wants us to have us much time on Mako exploring and studying the flora and fauna as possible. I wish the boys were coming with us," said Stella.

"Do you ever not think about the boys?" asked Musa with a hint of amusement. Layla got the feeling that the girls often teased Stella about the boys. Bloom regarded her friends with exasperation for a moment then turned to Layla.

"So how are you finding Alfea so far? I know you haven't had any lessons yet but you've at least seen bits of the school. What did you think of Faragonda?"

Layla was surprised at Bloom's casual mention of the headmistress by her first name and said as much to Bloom. Bloom laughed.

"Sorry I forgot you didn't know. Faragonda is good friends with my parents. She's actually my mum's godmother." They arrived at the dining hall and the choosing of things to eat ended the conversation for a time. When they sat down to eat, Flora started talking about some of the local legends relating to Mako Island. This conversation continued as they cleared up, assembled in the school courtyard, walked down to the docks and took a steamboat that belonged to the school across to the island.

When all the students had climbed off the boat, Professor Palladium gathered them all on the beach to speak to them. The professor was a very nervous, rather geeky young man for whom most of the class held little respect. They giggled and whispered and paid little attention as Palladium gave the class their instructions. The only ones who didn't were Layla and her dorm mates.

One of the girls started mimicking the Professor.

"Oh, grow up Amaryl," Stella spoke in a voice that carried across the beach. "You're not as funny as you think you are you know."

The girl, now identified for Layla as Amaryl, glared at Stella but didn't say anything. Layla thought it might develop into a full on cat fight but Professor Palladium dismissed the Class and Amaryl's friends dragged her away.

"My cousin can be such an idiot sometimes! Come on girls, let's go," said Stella.

The seven girls set off into the forest that covers the island. The girls had not been walking long when they found themselves in a rocky clearing with a stream running through it. The only way to cross the stream was by jumping between rocks Layla found herself going first, as she was quite sporty. Stella was the last to cross. As she scrambled over the rocks, Stella's foot slipped and the girl fell into a hidden cave.

"Stella!" six voices cried out in unison.

"I'm alright!" Stella's voice sounded distant. "But I've twisted my ankle and I can't stand up."

"We're coming Stella," cried Bloom. "Come on girls." Bloom scrambled across the rocks to the entrance that Stella had fallen down. The other girls followed close behind and one by one the girls jumped into the cave. Bloom was supporting Stella to stand when Layla landed in the cave.

"Girls, we might have a problem," Tecna said. The other girls looked at the place they had come in. The hole was too high to reach, even if one of them stood on another's shoulders. The walls of the cave were completely smooth so it would be impossible to climb out.

"What do we do?" asked Flora sounding panicked.

"There has to be another way out," stated Layla. If all else failed, she could always transform and fly the other girls out of the cave, even though it would mean revealing her secrets.

"Layla's right," stated Musa. "Look, I think there's another cave over there."

"Lead the way, Musa," instructed Bloom, who Layla was beginning to realise was the leader of this group of girls.

The girls had to crawl to get from one cave to the next. They crawled through several caves until they found themselves in one with a pool of water.

"It's beautiful," whispered Flora.

"Girls, I think we might be inside the volcano," stated Tecna, who was looking up. The others followed her gaze and saw a hole in the ceiling that did indeed look as though it were the top of the volcano. Through the hole the full moon was visible.

"I think this is the end of the road girls. The only way out of this cave is back the way we came." There was resignation in Roxy's tone. Layla began to resign herself to the fact that she would have to reveal her powers after all when Tecna saved her.

"Wait a minute. Look at the watermarks here on the rocks. This pool must be tidal and therefore it must be connected to the sea. It might be possible to swim out."

"Perhaps one of us ought to check it's possible to do so before all of us go." Bloom sounded worried.

"I'll go," Layla offered. "I'm quite a good swimmer." Bloom nodded and Layla quickly entered the pool. It was deeper than she had expected and she had to swim a way down to find the channel that connected it to the sea. The passage was wide enough for a person to fit through and not too long that they wouldn't manage to get through holding their breath. Layla quickly returned to the surface of the pool.

"There's a way out," Layla told her new friends as soon as she surfaced.

"Right then, shoes off everyone," Bloom instructed her friends as she sat down to remove her own shoes. Removing their shoes would mean less weight dragging them down. Layla had removed her shoes before she got in to the pool.

Once everyone had removed their shoes, they joined Layla in the pool. The water began to bubble at the exact moment the last of the girls, Stella, entered the pool. Various comments followed about the peculiarity of the bubbling water before Bloom took charge again.

"Okay girls, we form a chain. Everyone is to hold the ankle of the person in front of them. Layla will go first and I'll bring up the rear."

"I'm not sure I can hold my breath long enough," fretted Tecna.

"Same," agreed Stella.

"Yeah, I'm not sure about this either," put in Flora. Bloom bit her lip looking worried. Layla debated with herself for a moment. She had sworn to herself never to reveal her secret but these girls were her friends. They needed her help.

"There might be something I can do," Layla told the rest of the girls. She concentrated hard and around each of their heads appeared a pinkish toned bubble.

"You're a fairy!" cried six voices in unison. Layla's confusion at her roommates' knowledge must have shown on her face as Bloom then added to her statement.

"We're fairies too." Layla laughed in surprise.

"Well then, now that we've established that Layla's one of us, shall we get out of here?" asked Flora rhetorically. The other girls murmured agreement and Layla dived, feeling Musa grab hold of her ankle as she went.

When the seven girls were all in the open sea they bobbed under the water for a moment whilst Layla removed the bubbles of air around their heads so that if anyone happened to see them surface they would not see the magic. This precaution turned out to have been necessary as the Alfea steam boat was not far from where the girls surfaced; the headmistress was aboard.

"There you are girls! We've been so worried about you! Where have you been?" Headmistress Light questioned as she helped the girls climb up into the boat.

"Stella fell into a cave and twisted her ankle so we jumped down to help her but then we couldn't get back out so we had to look for a different exit. We had to swim out in the end," Bloom explained.

"Well at least you're safe now. We need to get the other girls and Professor Palladium from the island, and then we can go home."

"Are there any towels on the boat Headmistress?" questioned Tecna. "We ought to get ourselves dried off so we don't catch a chill."

"I believe there are some in the cabins. You go investigate, whilst I get this boat back to the island."

Later that evening, when the other girls and the teacher had been collected from the island, and everyone had returned to school, Layla decided she would take a bath. She wanted to get the salt water out of her hair.

As Layla climbed into the filled bathtub, she noticed a tingling sensation in her legs. She looked at where her legs were, or rather, where they had been. Now there was a fish tail where her legs had been. The scales, Layla noted, were the same colour as the dress she wore when she transformed into her fairy form.


End file.
